Virtual electro-photographic printer model

Abstract

A halftone image in the computer is a bitmap matrix that contains either 0 or 1 , where 0 means the printer will not deposit any toner onto a paper and 1 means the printer will deposit some amount of toner onto a paper. The amount of toner that is put by the printer onto a paper for a given input signal pattern is characterized. The hypothesis was that the distribution of toner mass on the paper for a given input matrix pattern can be modeled with a toner point spread function, a toner transfer efficiency function, and a noise function. In order to study toner mass distribution printed on paper, it is necessary to develop an analytical technique for measuring the distribution of toner mass. The analytical technique used in this thesis is an optical analysis based on light transmitted through the printed sample. This analytical technique was calibrated against a gravimetric analysis. Linear relation between the optical analysis and gravimetric analysis indicates that the technique can be used for measuring spatial distribution of printed toner mass on a micro-scale. Guided by experimental measurements of toner mass distribution, a quantitative model of the three printer functions, the spread function, the toner delivery function, and the noise function, were characterized. These functions were used to construct a printer function that was used to compare the efficiency of different halftone patterns. The result of the printer model was extended to include the optical point spread function of the paper. This provided a complete printing model that simulated both physical and optical dot gain